Bartók Béla, ifj.: Chronicles of Béla Bartók's Life (Budapest, 2021)
Great Concert Tours on Two Continents (1922–1931)
GREAT CONCERT TOURS ON TWO CONTINENTS (1 922-1 931 ) 1931 17 January - He travels to Irun via Paris, then by car to San Sebastian. 18 January - He writes his mother, who is writing her daughter on this very day: “ Béla was protesting with the Temesvár people because they wanted to place a memorial tablet in Nagyszentmiklós with words only in Romanian”. 19 January - Piano recital in San Sebastian. Programme: pieces of Marcello, Scarlatti, della Ciaja, Bartok, and Kodály. Its an exclusive concert, he isn’t even obliged to don a tailcoat. - He buys a round ticket for Iberia. 20 January - He travels to Lisbon, where on the 21st “the orchestral rehearsal was held in a cellar” - he writes his mother. Sometime between 21 and 24 January he writes a letter to his son Péter. 24 January - He plays Rhapsody and solo pieces. “The orchestra is amazingly bad! I have to play 40 minutes of solo” - he writes. 27 January - He leaves Lisbon for Madrid via Valencia de Alcantara (Extremadura). 28 January - His concert planned for Granada is cancelled, thus he doesn’t leave Madrid. 29 January - He falls ill, he is confined to bed with fever for a day and a half. For this reason he has to postpone 2 of his concerts to later dates, the one planned for Palma has to be cancelled. 1 February - He has recovered more or less. - He writes a letter to his son Péter. 3 February - Piano recital in Oviedo. His programme consists of pieces by Marcello, Scarlatti, della Ciaja, Dances of Marosszék, and his own Suite, Evening in Transylvania, Rumanian Dance No. 1, and Allegro barbaro. 7 February - He gives a concert at Mozart Hall of Barcelona. Programme: Marcello’s Sonata in B flat major, della Ciaja’s Canzone in C major, 2 sonatas by Scarlatti, Dances of Marosszék, his own Suite, Allegro barbaro, Evening in Transylvania, Rumanian Dance No. 1, furthermore 5 numbers from 8 Hungarian Folk Songs with Vania Sokolova’s 319
